Richard Matt's Pen Pal Says She Lost A 'Good Friend'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A pen pal of prison escapee Richard Matt has broken her silence about the man who she called her dear friend.
It was a prison escape that captured the country's attention, but after three weeks on the run escapee Richard Matt was shot and killed near the Canadian border.
Matt may have been a horrific killer. But to a woman who didn't want to be identified, "Rick" she called him was a dear friend.
"I sent Valentines cards, birthday cards, Father's Day cards Christmas cards, you know, he was like family," the woman said.
Her husband met Matt on the honor block at the Clinton Correctional Facility three years ago.
"They would cook meals together or pass meals together and if I got, sent my husband something he would share it with "Rick."
The two became pen pals, a correspondence that went on for the past two and a half years, included monthly letters and occasional packages.
The final letter she received from Matt arrived June 5 -- just hours before he and David Sweat would be the first to breakout of the maximum security prison.
"Normal letter," the woman said. "You know thank you for the package, and you know, see you when I get out."
The next day, she came across the unthinkable.
"It was on the internet, two guys had escaped from Clinton," the woman said. "I scroll down and there's Rick's face. And I thought, 'Oh my God. What the hell did you do?'"
That question will go unanswered.
24 hours later agents showed up at her work and demanded years worth of letters.
"They wanted to see if there is anything in there, to see what he was planning."
The only one they didn't take was among the first Matt sent to her Niagara County home.
"…I've been in prison 14 years now. I'm serving 25 years to life sentence. Please write if you are interested. I will respond. Rick."
That letter may have meant little to her before, because another wasn't far behind.
Then she got the call. Rick had been found. He was dead.
"I just started shaking," the woman said. "I got real quiet, tears started forming, I came home and I balled my eyes out. I mean I loved him but I loved him as a friend, a good friend and now it's gone."
